WOW! Lifting & Bouncing Laminate Flooring Fix (Expansion Problem) | XDIY

[@XDIY]

WOW 😱... I was shocked to see that my floor lifted drastically. It happened only on the side of the room so it took some time to notice it... BUT, it's easy to fix with some simple steps I present in the video. (Note that this flooring issue can be caused also by other things not covered in my video). Enjoy. 👉 Some of the tools & accessories that I'm using - www.itzikdiy.com/tools-list?m=1

[@productreviewspecialist]

I like your method of marking it with the base and then the laminate thickness. Brilliant

[@XDIY]

@@productreviewspecialist Thanks :)

[@tsunamakazi]

thank you for posting this. i just did my floors downstairs and had buckling. this will defiantly help get it fix. should have stuck to bigger gap from wall from start

[@XDIY]

@@tsunamakazi 🙏 Good luck.

[@PeopleCanFly23]

I have the same laminate flooring Krono D4567, great color 😀

[@XDIY]

Yes, I like it too 😀🙏

[@lekyuenng288]

Amazing video. May I also ask, is it possible if I use a dehumidifier to reverse the floor bubbling?

[@XDIY]

Thanks! I don't know about the dehumidifier. I'm not sure that it will help to reverse an existing damage but maybe only to prevent it before. Anyway I found this, didn't read yet :) www.laminate-flooring.com.sg/news/will-humidity-level-in-my-home-affect-laminate-flooring.html

[@serbiaroxbasketball]

Nicely done! Thank you for the tutorial.

[@XDIY]

@@serbiaroxbasketball Thanks!

[@pauls2763]

This is a classic video. The best is the dance at the end 😂

[@XDIY]

@@pauls2763 Finally someone talks about this dance! 🤣

[@pauls2763]

@@XDIY great info with a great end. What more could a viewer want! Btw my laminate has all of a sudden lifted up higher, causing a bifold door to come off its hinges. I’m hoping it can be fixed like in your video, if not it might be a water leak from shower pipes near by…

[@XDIY]

It can be due to lack of space like in my video. I guess that you could see if it's wet but it's hard to know. BTW in my home the laminate floor is ending at the doors of each room and doesnt continue to the hall. There is an Aluminum cover above the cut. This is better to separate each room to prevent presure due to expanding in other connected rooms... Not mandatory but just saying 🙂

[@DDLuvS4ever]

thanks for the vid!! My floor is just like that in the fall, but one section of the wall where I suspect the problem is located, is a fireplace, which i made the mistake of perhaps letting contractor install floor too close against the brick mortar and resurface the brick wall with large tiles that mostly glued on brick but sit on that edge of floorings, am i doomed for having to cut along the edge of the tile and use additional trim to cover it up?

[@XDIY]

It's hard to know for sure... but if you have a floating laminate floor (like in my case) and the edge is glued or pressed with tiles of the wall it sounds problematic. Is the lifting of the floor close to this fireplace side on this room?

[@DDLuvS4ever]

@@XDIY thank you for the reply, the lifting is not close to the floor, perhaps six rows away and next to a sliding door to the patio. I have already cut open the sliding door side and it looks like enough expansion gap, yea im very much thinking the closer rows to the fireplace is glued down......

[@XDIY]

@@DDLuvS4ever Good luck :)

[@1TylerM]

Use a transition to cover your gap if needed

[@campbell3897]

It also looks like you didn’t leave any space between the bottom of your baseboards and the floor. When they touch the floor after installing, they are basically holding down the floor and preventing movement as well.

[@XDIY]

I actually never saw that it's required to leave such space and the floor can still move, but I'll check it. Thanks for the tip! :)

[@sanxhez5611]

That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.

[@juanbrujo43]

I didnt get it , so you got to leave some space between bottom of base board and floor or NOT ??

[@campbell3897]

It doesn’t have to be visible to the eye when standing up. But I left a small 1/16 of an inch space where I could between the baseboards and floor and have not had any problems. And do not nail your boards into the floor planks, but only your wall studs.

[@1TylerM]

Important to make sure moulding trim is also not pressing down super tight on the flooring locking it down.

[@malicant123]

Nice one. This is a job that's on my list!

[@XDIY]

@@malicant123 Thanks. Do you have this issue on your floor?

[@malicant123]

@@XDIY Yup. It's not too bad, but it's one I need to fix.

[@XDIY]

@@malicant123 Good luck 🙂

[@malicant123]

@@XDIY cheers

[@JellyBabesXo1]

Would this work with herringbone LVT

[@XDIY]

Sorry, I'm not familiar with herringbone lvt flooring enought for answering your question...

[@corlenewight5844]

Thank you so much.

[@XDIY]

You're welcome!

[@gato_hacker]

Cool idea the hot glue.

[@XDIY]

Thanks!

[@AbuOmar1988]

What is the tool called that you are using too cut the pieces?!

[@XDIY]

It's called Oscillating Multi Tool. This is the one I'm using but of course you can use any other... amzn.to/3U748QX

[@sanxhez5611]

If the wall is Sheetrock it’s always easier cutting the Sheetrock so that the floor can slide underneath instead of cutting the floor.

[@XDIY]

Thanks. In this case it's a concrete wall...

[@sanxhez5611]

@@XDIY i figured since you glued the base instead of nailing .

[@CartersShed]

Nice fix. Guess it was not yourself that put the original floor down?

[@XDIY]

Pleading guilty :) Since you asked, I'll explain in detail: I installed the laminated floor about 8Y ago in our new apartment. About 50 meters in 4 rooms. I left spaces during the installation as required, and it was ok all years and still ok in the other rooms. Since COVID-19, I started to work from home few days a week (I'm a Software Engineer) and worked in this room. In the last winter I closed the door and window and used the AC on Heat mode for a lot of hours and many days. One day I noticed this bounce and was shocked!😀 As you can see, it was relatively severe. Initially I thought that it's related to a water flood, but there is no water source near this room. So... I can only guess that it was due to the Heat in an unventilated room. In addition, in the other side of the room not seen in the video, there are heavy furniture pressing the floor, so maybe that caused the floor to expand only in one side, making the gaps not big enough and a bigger issue. Anyway, it proves the fact of the floor expansion when it's warm, so I decided to share the problem and the fix which can help others with wrong installation :) Thanks!

[@LeanSab]

@@XDIY Why you mentioned that it could take some time for the floor to be flat? And how long?

[@XDIY]

​@@LeanSab In my case it took few weeks. I guess it depends on the temperature & humidity in the room, how bad is the case on your floor, etc. I'm not a laminate floor pro, but I'll try to explain it the way I understand it: - The floor was expanded do to temperature & humidity changes. - The expansion gaps aren't good enough so the floor boards are expanded against the walls until there is no more space. - The floor keeps expanding, but now it's starting to rise in different places. The laminate floor boards now have lost their flat shape. - Now you make the fix that I did and cut the floor edges - the floor should have enough room in order to be flat again, but laminate floor material is usually HDF (like MDF), which is relatively stiff and is now "deformed". So, it may take time to be flat and get the original shape (and maybe in some bad cases not). It's not a soft material like a carpet for example, which will just will straighten up immediately... (If the issue occurs due to water damage, moisture under flooring etc. which is other case - the floor probably should be replaced).

[@adiadr1708]

Why?

[@XDIY]

Why what? 🙂

[@adiadr1708]

@@XDIY due lack of dilaration

[@XDIY]

@@adiadr1708 The problem was due to lack of spaces near the walls

[@adiadr1708]

@@XDIY qui

[@abdusshahid2545]

Ok

[@andreascala7425]

Oh shit. First you have to work with the bin turned on because wood dust is a pain in the ass indoors. If not you can remove the tiles and do the job outside.

[@XDIY]

@@andreascala7425 The tiles couldn't be removed because it's not a new installation but a later fix.

[@jasoncheshire6153]

Glue down engineered hardwood is the answer

[@XDIY]

Next time... 🙂

[@kevinjewitt1689]

Didn't even fix the problem

[@XDIY]

4:02 Can't you see the differences before & after? The laminate boards were warped for a long period due to their expansion and lifting, so of course that after the fix they didn't return to their original shape immediately. I recorded it few days after the fix. Later it was better, but I think that you can clearly see differences... You can always replace the boards if the result is not satisfactory, depending on damage...

[@wmsstuff271]

What do you imagine the problem was? Of course he fixed it. As he stated, it'll take a little while for the floor to flatten out again.

[@emailshe]

@@XDIY Thank you, Is it possible to speed up the flattening by blowing a hair drier or something to get rid of absorbed moisture? or keeping a heavy furniture on the raised surface? May be a laser level can identify the exact point to keep the furniture on.

[@XDIY]

​@@emailshe It's hard to say because I haven't tried, but in my opinion you shouldn't try with a hair dryer, so it won't do any extra damage, but let the room be ventilated at room temperature. You can try to put a heavy furniture, I don't know how much it will help and it depends on how bad the situation is. Take into consideration that putting too much pressure on raised floor might cause the laminate boards to disconnect from each other.

[@drapermike]

@@XDIYwas going to say I just noticed my sons floor is raising right in front of the doorway and that’s all. I have some heavy items on top of the floor for a week and lifted tonight and it’s still raised. Don’t understand why. It is in the basement tho and it stays real cool down there at all times. Hoping not to have to rip any flooring and trim off to fix :/